Taiwan News Quick Take

Staff writer, with CNA

CRIME

Major charged with spying

An air force major and a karaoke club owner have been charged with disclosing military secrets to China, prosecutors in Greater Kaohsiung said yesterday. Major Hao Chih-hsiung (郝志雄), who served at the air force base in Pingtung County, and businessman Wan Tsung-lin (萬宗琳) are accused of selling China classified information about Taiwan’s E-2K early warning aircraft. Their alleged contact with China was discovered in June last year during a separate espionage investigation and they were detained in September last year after prosecutors found that the two men had money in their bank accounts from an unknown source, according to the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office’s Kaohsiung Branch. Prosecutors said Hao was paid between NT$300,000 (US$9,899.68) and NT$400,000 for his efforts, prosecutors allege.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Philippines to get relief

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines will deliver about NT$22.38 million (US$738,500) in donations to the Philippine government for relief and reconstruction in the wake of last year’s Typhoon Haiyan at a ceremony later this year, officials said.Last year, public and private donors in Taiwan gave more than NT$300 million in supplies and other aid to the Philippines after the deadly typhoon struck on Nov. 8, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The amount included a US$200,000 cash donation by the government, the ministry said. In the weeks after the storm ripped through the Philippines, a Taiwanese Navy vessel delivered 530 tonnes of supplies to the neighboring country, while military transport planes delivered 150 tonnes of supplies.

DISASTER

Another ship to aid search

The Chengkung-class navy frigate and two Coast Guard Administration ships that were dispatched to help with the international search for a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner were scheduled to arrive today in an area of the South China Sea where the Boeing 777-200 possibly went missing. A fourth frigate, a Lafayette-class vessel, was also sent yesterday. All four are expected to operate in the South China Sea for four to five days. Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂) said Malaysia has agreed to allow the vessels to dock in one of its ports to take on fuel, water and food. Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared from radar screens in the early hours of Saturday morning after taking off from Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing.

SOCIETY

Nurse accused over picture

A nurse at a hospital in Taitung is being accused of violating a patient’s privacy after reportedly posting photographs of a heart surgery patient on Facebook. In a story published yesterday, the Chinese-language Apple Daily quoted an official from the Taiwan Healthcare Reform Foundation as condemning the act, which he said demonstrates a lack of empathy and respect for patients’ privacy. Although the photographs were taken down within hours of the controversy erupting, the Taitung branch of Mackay Memorial Hospital said it has instructed the nurse to submit a report on the incident and is considering punishment for her. According to the hospital’s initial investigation, the photographs depicting the patient intubated and covered with bandages were taken by the nurse with a cellphone after a four-hour surgery on Tuesday. The nurse was reported as saying she was only trying to share the joy of the patient’s “rebirth.”